Currently known techniques for characterizing the immunity of integrated circuit components are grouped into two main families: direct injection techniques, and radiation injection techniques.
The direct injection techniques are themselves separated into two main types: the DPI (Direct Power Injection) technique, and the BCI (Bulk Current Injection) technique. The DPI technique consists of developing a specific printed circuit for the component, to which the possibilities of injecting a parasite signal may be added. One then monitors if the component is disturbed in the presence of the injected signal. The BCI technique consists of inserting a cable that transports the functional signals from the component, or from a card that has several components, in a transformer. The object of the transformer is to insert electrical power over driving sides of this cable, and in this way verify the interference or the non-interference of the component(s).
The DPI technique has the advantage of fine characterization of the susceptibility of a function of an integrated circuit for localized injection. Its defect is it does not easily allow simultaneous injection over several inputs of a component. Conversely, the BCI technique allows all the accesses of a component to be bombarded simultaneously. But, the BCI technique uses jumper wires of minimal length due to the very fact that the transformer volume does not allow high frequency connection, in practice not above 500 MHz.
Radiation injection techniques utilize TEM (Transverse Electromagnetic Mode), or GTEM (Gigahertz TEM) resonant cells, or even MSC (Mode Stirred Chamber) mode stirred cells, to excite printed circuit type electronic cards that carry components. Or rather, these cells excite the specific cards carrying a component to be tested to verify its subfield susceptibility. In every case, to characterize the susceptibility of a component, these techniques require the manufacture of a particular card, and necessitate, due to the fact of the relative remoteness of the field sources with respect to the components, significant power sources. Furthermore, control of the part of the disturbance power effectively received by the component is not easy, or even debatable.